Headlight washer devices are known that are members mounted close to the headlights of a vehicle for the purpose of spraying the glasses of the headlights with water or with a cleaning mixture.
For esthetic reasons and for providing protection from dirt, the headlight washer device is often received behind the bumper skin and is mounted to move between two positions, namely a “rest” position in which the headlight washer device is retracted inside the bumper skin, and an “in-use” position in which the headlight washer device projects from the bumper skin through an opening provided therein, the nozzle of the headlight washer device being directed towards the headlight glass.
In which case, the presence of the headlight washer device requires an opening to be provided in the bumper skin, as well as a moving hatch mechanism for closing said opening when the headlight washer device is at rest, and for uncovering said opening when the headlight washer device is in the “in-use” position.
Thus, the closure hatch is equipped with assembly means for assembling it to the moving member constituted by the headlight washer device, thereby constraining the hatch to move with the moving member between a closed position in which it closes the opening, while the moving member is retracted inside the opening, and an open position in which it uncovers the opening, while the moving member is projecting from said opening.
However, since headlight washer devices are currently items of equipment that are optional, or that are standard features on top-range vehicles only, a solution has already been devised for a vehicle model (the Astra (registered trademark) model manufactured by the car maker Opel (registered trademark) that was put on the market in 2004), whereby a same bumper skin can be used interchangeably either with or without headlight washer devices. That solution offers the advantage of avoiding having to manage two categories of bumper skin: bumper skins provided with an opening for installing headlight washer devices, and bumper skins that are not provided with such an opening.
In that solution, the bumper skin is always provided with an opening that is closed by a hatch, but, in the absence of headlight washer device on the vehicle, the hatch is snap-fastened directly onto the bodywork part by snap-fastening catches.
The result is satisfactory as regards manufacture of the bumper skins, but could still be improved from an industrial point of view because the presence of snap-fastening catches on the hatch hinders the movements of the moving member. It is thus necessary to re-machine or otherwise re-work each hatch before equipping a vehicle provided with a headlight washer device, in order to remove the snap-fastening catches and in order to enable the moving member to be fastened to the hatch.